


I Hope They Remember You

by kozagreta



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Minor Character Death, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 22:23:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14411790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kozagreta/pseuds/kozagreta
Summary: To think that in a way, it all started with a stupid piece of parchment materializing in his workshop a few days ago… But that wasn’t right, was it? The truth was it had all started back in 2012, when Tony had flown through that wormhole with the missile.





	I Hope They Remember You

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Aside from original characters, everything in this fic belongs to Marvel.
> 
> This fic started out as a joke between a friend and I about how Tony, Strange and Serena, an original character of mine who is very dear to my heart, would instantly become friends if they were to meet. Then, as always, it escalated quickly into a full-blown Infinity War lead-up fic with a romantic undertone. Basically, I just wanted Tony Stark to get a happy ending (it is an ending?) for once, because he deserves it.
> 
> This is the longest fic I've ever written and posted. It is also heavily influenced by personal headcanons on how to "fix" the Avengers after the events of CW. So if you like it, or even if you don't, leave me some feedback. I'd love to read them.
> 
> Special thanks to the lovely EarlCain for brainstorming with me and being generally supportive and awesome!

It wasn’t unheard of Tony to work late hours – he was something of an insomniac, even though it was a lot better now that some weight had been taken off his shoulders after Siberia. Midnight found him in his workshop, brows furrowed in deep concentration as he tinkered with a repulsor beam propped up on a table while AC/DC played in the background.

Satisfied with a miniature seal he was just finishing up, he set his tool aside and leaned back to scrutinize his work, safety goggles balanced on the tip of his nose for a bit. Good to continue with another seal, he reached for the soldering iron again, only for his fingers to brush against something strange.

Frowning, he glanced to the side and discovered a small, yellowish parchment of some kind, which definitely had not been there just a moment ago, had it? Turning in his chair completely then, he eyed the parchment suspiciously for a long second before taking his safety goggles off and rubbing at his eyes to chase away any trace of tiredness.

_ Still there, _ he concluded upon opening his eyes again.  _ Okay. _

With a huff, he picked up the small piece of paper and turned it in his hand, inspecting it closely. Surprisingly enough, it turned out to be a business card – of sorts.

_ Dr. Stephen Strange _ _  
_ _ 177A, Bleecker Str. _

Tony’s frown deepened as he looked at the card. The only things written on it were a name and an address, and he wasn’t familiar with either of them.  _ Not vague at all,  _ he thought sarcastically, just short of rolling dark hues towards the ceiling.

“Got mail, Tony?” The mechanic’s eyes jumped up, heart rate picking up for a moment as they unexpectedly met the deep browns of his newest teammate. She was a witch. Literally and figuratively, too.

“Jesus, Serena. You have to stop doing that.” He hadn’t even heard the sliding doors open. Had they, even, and he just missed the sound or did she just teleport here? Jesus… She was so out of his league, power-wise. It never ceased to amaze him. 

“You just have to start expecting it,” Serena sassed him back easily, a light smirk sitting on her plump lips which Tony had trouble interpreting. It looked wicked on her, though, and delicious.

She must have come because of the card. She wore a short silk robe over god knows what, he realized, and she was barefoot, had no makeup on. Her wards must have had picked up on the arrival of the parchment and woken her up, even when his hadn’t. His were pieces of unique, top-notch technology – hers were magic. 

“Do you know a Dr. Strange?” he asked, handing her the strip of paper without hesitation. The mechanic had a feeling that if anyone, Serena Morgan would know a guy with calling cards that materialized from thin air. 

“Can’t say that I do… But I can tell he’s got style.”

The witch and he weren’t in the habit of lying to each other. In fact, they were brutally honest but that was how Tony liked it. They had formed a bond quickly, even though they were both very private people for one reason or another. Maybe that was why she was able to unravel a side of him, seemingly without much difficulty, other people rarely even saw the potential of and vice versa. That was how he knew, from something as small as the strange glint in her eyes as she read the card, that there was something she wasn’t telling him.

“You’re being unsettlingly mysterious again…” It was supposed to be a complaint but he had kind of, a teeny tiny bit come to enjoy her Mistress of the Mystic Arts persona, which came with a dramatic streak, and it showed.

“Old habits die hard,” she answered with a soft sigh; though, her tone wasn’t apologetic at all. “Do you want to check it out tomorrow?”

She wouldn’t tell him anything until tomorrow, the mechanic knew that too. 

 

 

The next morning, they went to 177A, Bleecker Str. It turned out to be a large, olive green building in Greenwich Village with a strange, circular symbol adorning the biggest of its front windows.

Tony parked the Audi close to the sidewalk and reluctantly climbed out of it; although, he couldn’t have denied his curiosity had been piqued the night before what with the mysterious piece of paper and Serena’s reaction to it. The witch knew that if the apparent satisfaction on her features was anything to go by.

“I’ll admit to not being the most careful of people, usually, but what if we’re walking straight into a trap?” he asked, rounding the car to meet the witch on the other side. His concern seemingly amused her.

“That crossed your mind, huh?”

“Naturally. I’m something of a genius. People say so – actually, it’s kind of a fact.”

“It’s not a trap,” Serena stated with the conviction of someone who knew something the other did not – which, Tony was sure, was the case. Then, as if thinking better of it, “But if it is a trap, I will protect you. Don’t worry, darling.”

She chuckled and he rolled his eyes, but he could work with ‘darling’.

They walked up the short flight of stairs to the building’s grand entrance side by side. One moment, the sun was shining on them and they were standing in front of the massive wooden door, ready to knock – the next, they were inside the huge building, more specifically in the middle of its dark foyer with the door behind them.

Tony had to blink a few times for his eyes to adjust to the lack of natural light, not to mention his head was spinning and an uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach due to the teleporting.  _ He would never get used to this. _

“In case you were wondering, that wasn’t me,” he heard Serena say and he glanced at her, now suddenly alert, while he subconsciously fingered the Rolex on his wrist. He had made some alterations just to be safe.

Serena, though, seemed to remain calm as ever. Her gaze bore into his as if saying ‘don’t get excited’ and Tony had no idea when he had learnt to read her so well, but he decided to trust her judgement with this. 

“It was me,” The two turned their heads towards the sound in unison, only to see a man in dark blue clothes and an elegant red cape descend the stairs in front of them. Rather than walking, he seemed to float a few inches above the steps, which he didn’t seem to notice or pay a lot if any attention to. “My apologies. It turned out to be more dramatic than I intended.”

The witch next to him had to audibly swallow back some laughter – he knew what she was thinking – but Tony was more curious than amused, and a little bit suspicious too.

“I don’t know about you, but doctors in hospitals I’ve visited tended to wear white coats instead of fancy drapes,” the mechanic noted flippantly. This man was Dr. Strange, then. His clothes were certainly not Tony’s style but, he had to admit, he was digging the facial hair.

“I don’t work in a hospital anymore,” Strange answered with a gentle smile, his expression one of total patience as if he had been expecting the hardships conversing with the (in)famous Tony Stark would bring and he was prepared to face them.

Tony didn’t like that.

“Clearly.” Truth be told, he figured that much. Last night after Serena had gone back to bed, he asked FRIDAY to run a quick search on a certain Stephen Strange, but he hadn’t expected to find a S.H.I.E.L.D. file. 

Stephen Vincent Strange M.D., Ph.D., you name it, was something of a neurosurgeon mastermind. Certainly enough of a threat to get on HYDRA’s radar and the list of people who would have been eliminated by Project Insight, had Cap not been able to shut it down in time. Well, that had been until a car accident ruined Strange’s hands and his career – Tony got that from various news reports. Now, it seemed the man had found himself another profession.

“What’s this place again?” Tony inquired in his own special way, looking around the dimly lit hall.

“This is the Sanctum Sanctorum, Mr. Stark, the New York base of the Masters of the Mystic Arts.” Tony shot a quick, accusing glance at Serena upon hearing the man’s answer. There was no way she hadn’t known that way in advance. “And I am, as you correctly assumed, Doctor Strange, Master of the Sanctum.”

“What happened to Daniel Drumm?” Both men turned towards the witch when she spoke up for the first time since Strange joined them. Tony almost missed the temporary surprise on the sorcerer’s face.

“He died two years ago,” the Doctor answered after a moment of hesitation. He took a few steps – no more floating – towards Serena and extended his hand to her. “Miss Morgan if I’m not mistaken. Have you known him?”

“Fleetingly,” she said curtly, shaking the outstretched limb.

_ Right. _ Tony was starting to get impatient.

“So, not that I don’t enjoy the whole get to know each other. But. Why are we here?” He would have really liked to know that. “Your invitation was a little vague. Really, you should work on that.”

“Right.” The sorcerer stepped back from Serena and gave both of them a meaningful look. “I would like to show you something.”

 

 

The something turned out to be a someone.

Strange led them upstairs to a bedroom that was probably reserved for guests. The New York Sanctum was like a labyrinth – a complicated spider web of crossing corridors and archways Tony would have sworn were changing their places on a whim. While he sometimes struggled to keep up with the Master of the building, Serena seemed to be walking next to Strange more like following him through the corridors, rounding corners without hesitation like only someone who was deeply familiar with a place would.

The sorcerer seemed to realize that the same time Tony did. Only difference, the fact that the woman could always surprise him didn’t surprise the mechanic anymore. He decided then to ask her about it later.

When they finally arrived to the guest room and Strange opened the door, Tony caught sight of one Bruce Banner.

“I’ve found him last night,” the sorcerer explained while Tony walked into the room, steps hurried, to his unconscious friend. Banner was lying on the bed, looking worse for wear but not injured – at least not at first inspection. “My wards sensed him as he was falling from the sky.”

After Sokovia, Tony could only hope he would see the doctor again, but honestly? The chances of that were slim, and that was he being overly optimistic. When the Quinjet the Hulk had taken was found in the ocean but there was no sight of him whatsoever, Tony knew Bruce didn’t want to be found.

He had thought the best thing he could do was give the man his space. Clearly, he had been mistaken.

“What do you mean falling from the sky? From where?” he asked Strange a bit irritably while he stopped by the bed, scanning his friend’s unmoving form from head to toe impatiently.

“I believe… outer space.”

 

 

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Banner should have come back from wherever he had been, find out about what happened to the team and kick his ass for it. Tony would have explained to him why it wasn’t totally  _ his fault _ this time around and Banner would have begrudgingly accepted the new status quo. The new team he had managed – with some help, alright – to assemble was superb anyway. Glorious even.

There was Rhodey and Vizh, of course, and Hill had got in contact with three former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he had been iffy about at first, but Tony had to admit, they were a good addition. He had even managed to recruit Emma Frost of all people, and then Serena had come around. Between the telepath and the sorceress, the Hulk would not even have to be the big gun anymore. Bruce will love that, once he wakes up…

After he told them all about finding Banner and treating his serious wounds with the help of mystical energies that were somewhere between natural and supernatural and also a mixture of western and eastern medicine, Strange left the room to give them some breathing space. Serena stepped out too – no doubt to talk to the sorcerer – while Tony contacted FRIDAY and asked it (her?) to run all tests it (she?) could from this distance.

Aside from a few cuts and bruises, Banner seemed to be in good physical condition. He was sleeping very deeply because of a spell Doctor Strange had put on him temporarily.  _ To subserve the healing process, _ the man had explained. It would probably take a few days for it to wear off.

That, however, didn’t console Tony.

This time, he heard it when Serena slipped back into the room and turned in time to see her close the door. Suddenly, he was overcome with a hurtful emotion he couldn’t quite place, but he acted upon it nonetheless.

“Where’s your new friend?” He all but spit out the syllables and what the hell…? Cross his heart, he didn’t want to word it like that – or sound so bitter.

The witch had the audacity to smile at him, smile, as she neared the bed. She was clearly amused; although, he could tell she was playing it down. Like that would help at all.

“You’re still my favorite, Tony, you know that.” Well, no, he didn’t but – good. “How is  _ your _ friend?” She inquired, gesturing vaguely towards Banner’s figure, tone of voice much gentler than his had just been. 

As she finally stopped by the foot of the bed, a chair from the other end of the room slid for her to sit on next to the one he had pulled over. Tony didn’t know whether she did that or the room was simply just… complying to her needs out of respect for the sorceress. He could have easily imagined the latter in this insane house.

“What Strange said; sleeping and healing,” he sighed, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees and hang his head for a bit, just to relax. This day was turning more stressful than he’d expected it would.

They had already established that until the Sleeping Beauty spell wore off, Banner couldn’t be moved from the Sanctum even though Tony’s first reaction had been to want to get him to a state of the art hospital or, even better, Helen Cho’s lab. However, even  _ his witch _ confirmed that it was safest for Strange to handle his own spell and healing magic was not her forte anyway. 

“Who was Daniel Drumm, really?” He asked then, looking up at her. Serena seemed to have been expecting the question; she wasn’t surprised to hear it at all.

“He was the Master Sorcerer of the Sanctum before Strange took the mantle,” she started on a neutral tone, and Tony somehow knew she did that because it was the safest or perhaps the easiest way to begin. “He… helped me a lot when I needed it, started teaching me Eldritch magic even though I wasn’t an official student of the Masters at the time.” Her answer was honest, but she seemed to hesitate a little then. “He was a friend.”

Tony suddenly felt bad for prying.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“Don’t be.” Serena flashed him a brilliant smile and, in that moment, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “The Ancient One always taught us that it’s death that gives life meaning. Knowing your days are numbered… it gives you perspective. Daniel wasn’t afraid.” She truly was.

 

 

Banner woke up six days later – the same day all hell broke loose.

By the time Tony arrived for his daily visit, Wong, who was also a resident of the Sanctum, had been waiting for him in the hall with the news about his friend’s full recovery. He led Tony into Doctor Strange’s office – Tony had been there before but he still wasn’t able to navigate the building on his own, it was insane – where they found the two men sitting opposite each other with some tea in front of them on a small coffee table.

“Hi, Tony,” Bruce smiled up at him hesitantly and it was such a relief to hear his voice and see him awake and completely well that Tony almost forgot he was supposed to be mad at him for taking a trip to space, apparently, in the first place.

“You took your time… and now you’re having a tea party without me?” he pursed his lips, stepping further into the room and crossing his arms over his chest. “Where the hell have you been, Banner? It’s been two years.” It came out a bit sharper than intended and Bruce winced a little, standing up slowly.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to but the other guy… I think he had other plans,” the doctor apologized, looking like the saddest puppy in the world while he did so.

Tony huffed out a breath, waiting for a more detailed explanation; although, maybe he shouldn’t have been giving his friend a hard time since he had some explaining to do of his own. Well, he was a genius but that didn’t mean he always made good decisions. Several people would instantly agree.

“Look, Tony, it’s a crazy story and I will tell you all about it, but we need to find Thor and Loki first. They must be on Earth.”

“Except, they are not,” Strange interrupted before Tony could ask. “As I was just telling Dr. Banner, my wards haven’t picked up anyone entering Earth’s air space aside from him six days ago.”

“Hold on,” the mechanic put up a hand. “Thor and Loki? You went to Asgard?” he asked incredulously, his expression one of pure disbelief. If Bruce had been in Asgard, Thor could have just sent a raven or something. You know, so the remaining Avengers on Earth wouldn’t have had to worry about Banner’s green ass. “Wait, I thought Loki was dead…”

“That’s not so important right now, but… okay, you should probably all know. Thor and some others, we kind of destroyed Asgard.” That dropped bomb left everyone completely silent. Sensing their shock, Banner tried to elaborate, “We had to. It’s complicated why, but what matters is this was the only way to save the citizens. We got everyone gathered on a spaceship and we were on our way to Earth when a massive ship came out of nowhere and started firing at us. I hulked out… Next thing I remember is waking up here.”

Tony and Strange were both frowning, trying to process the information. Wong would have been frowning too, Tony supposed, if his range of facial expressions hadn’t been so severely limited to looking at someone seriously and/or discouragingly.

He was about to suggest they go back to the New Avengers Facility – he could have filled Banner up on the previous couple years’ events in a nutshell and they could’ve started looking for the lost Asgardians – when a big crash coming from outside distracted him. Strange stood up quickly and hurried to the window. By then, screams could be heard from the street below and two similar ones followed the crash.

The next moment, they were standing in the hall on the last steps of the grand staircase. Tony shot a glare at the sorcerer before he walked to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. He glanced at the others again and Strange nodded for him to proceed, he and Wong both taking up similar fighting stances as they waited and Bruce looking a little green – the not-hulk-related kind.

When Tony opened the door, he was met with an absolute mess. People were running down the street, screaming hysterically as they passed the Sanctum Sanctorum in their hurry to get away from the source of danger. Some of them even abandoned their vehicles because it was quicker to run than to try to get through the crowd by car.

Tony put on his sunglasses and hurried down the few steps leading up to the building’s entrance to get to the middle of the street. Some buildings were burning in the distance, omitting dark, heavy puffs of smoke to paint the sky an ominous gray – and over the smoke, a huge, circular spaceship was ascending from the clouds.

 

 

This fight was like no other they had ever faced before.

Not long after Thanos had landed on Earth, his lackeys murdered Vision for the Infinity Stone that had given him life. Wanda took it hard and was badly hurt herself – so was Loki later on when he tried to double-cross the enemy. He gave Thanos the Tesseract in hopes of getting a chance to steal the other three Stones in the purple alien’s possession, but it was an expected move.

“The very best of humanity and this is the best you can do,” the conqueror spoke mockingly as he tossed the unconscious God of Mischief aside like one would a ragdoll. Loki landed on the windshield of a nearby car with a sickening thud.

Tony shot a quick glance at his teammates, old and new. The ones who were still standing were scattered across the battle-worn street, staring at the alien in tense silence while they waited for the right moment. His ironclad fingers slowly curled into tight fists.

“When I’m done,” Thanos continued while his Black Order slowly started to close in on them, “half of humanity will still exists. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.”

From the corner of his eyes, Tony saw Emma Frost turn fully into unbreakable diamond. Not far from her, Strange lifted his hands and fiery magical energy appeared in front of his palms in elaborate shield-like shapes. On his other side, Clint drew an arrow from his quiver, Gamora – one of a group of outlaws who called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy and had arrived too late to warn them about the upcoming threat – unsheathed her sword and Serena closed her eyes, murmuring a spell.

“I hope they remember you.”

They attacked simultaneously – a whirlwind of fire, bullets and magic. Smashing his way through the chaos, the Hulk got to Thanos first and the two started a bloody battle while the others clashed with members of the Black Order.

At first, they even believed they could win. The fight seemed balanced enough with their advantage in numbers, and they seemed to be able to hold their ground against the titan’s nigh-invincible followers for a minute. But then… oh, were they wrong.

Thanos managed to throw the Hulk off him and he lifted his hand. His Infinity Gauntlet caught a ray of sunshine as he brought it down, and suddenly, the very ground beneath their feet started to shake with its power. Most of them were knocked off balance and Tony heard a guttural scream but he did not see and could not have guessed whom it was coming from. The sound still left him breathless for a moment, his chest tight.

It became painfully clear that for all this time, the alien had only been playing with them, baiting them, testing their strength and finally deeming it inferior compared to his own. Now he was done playing.

When the Hulk rushed him again, Thanos grabbed his arm, twisted it behind the green monster’s back and snapped the bone with a simple fluid motion. The Hulk roared in pain and the Black Order started charging at them with renewed ferocity in that instant.

“We need to fall back. Now.” Frost’s voice was loud and clear in his mind, so much so his head whipped in the telepath’s direction. It was only a split of a second – Tony saw a flash of ripped white splashed with bright red and started swearing.

Suddenly, his head was filled with at least a dozen of voices – some loudly protesting to the idea of running, saying they needed to continue fighting while they could, while others tried to speak over them to make them see reason. Tony must have been one of those voices campaigning for a retreat, surprisingly enough, but it was hard to tell when he could barely hear his own thoughts.

Then he could see, they could all see what Emma – no, it was a bird’s angle, Falcon, the telepath was showing them what Sam circling above was seeing – was seeing and the protests slowly quietened in his head. It was pointless. They couldn’t punch their way out of this, they needed to be smart. They needed to fall back.

Tony took to the sky, too, and started doing what he did best – he made a show, and for once, people were joining in, firing everything they had to make a big enough distraction. He could not spot Strange, but he saw Wong and Serena opening portals all over the street and closing them once an ally went through. He didn’t know where they led, but when one of them opened right in front of him, he flew through.

 

 

The mirror dimension was a curious place. Under different circumstances, Tony would have been excited to explore it – now he just felt exhausted and drained in at least a hundred different ways.

After the last portal closed, nobody spoke for at least ten minutes. Tony could see as people started to silently orbit around the ones who truly mattered to them. He watched T’Challa rush to his sister’s side to make sure she wasn’t injured; watched Natasha and Clint reunite, giving each other small smiles and speaking without really saying anything. He watched Gamora and Quill hug, one shushing the other as their shoulders shook with silent tears for their fallen comrade, and then he knew for certain that painful scream he had heard had belonged to Drax. He watched them take a moment to mourn, listened to them say afterwards that Drax found his peace, he could be reunited with his wife and children again; and he was selfishly grateful that the people he caught himself gravitating towards were still in one piece.

To think that in a way, it all started with a stupid piece of parchment materializing in his workshop a few days ago… But that wasn’t right, was it? The truth was it had all started back in 2012, when Tony had flown through that wormhole with the missile. 

New York had been his awakening. He had almost died that day and had seen what was about to come. What their world would have to face one day, what he had been so desperately trying to prepare for since then.

That day had come and he wasn’t ready. No one was.

After some time spent counting their losses, in the relative safety of the mirror dimension, the only people the world could count on put aside their differences, their history and their hatred for one another in some cases, and started to work together to hatch a plan. Thanos had four Infinity Stones while they only had two: Doctor Strange’s Eye of Agamotto, which they began to call the Time Stone, and the Soul Stone wielded by Heimdall, one of the few Asgardians who survived the conqueror’s attack on their ship.

“This is a suicide mission.” It was Romanoff who finally said out loud what everyone else was thinking. The Widow sported a new hairstyle and all Tony could think of at that very moment – aside from how this plan, which depended more on magic and luck than he would have liked, was their only chance – was how weird it was to see her with short blonde curls.

They had become strangers in so many ways, and not just the spy and him. Yet, that didn’t seem to matter anymore in the face of something much bigger than any of them.

“Still, we need to try,” Rogers replied resignedly, and from the expression on most of their faces, everyone knew he was right. Who would do this if not them?

“Ah, whatever!” The talking raccoon called Rocket spoke up suddenly, his voice harsh and sharp as he let out a humorless bark of laughter. “This is as good a day to die as any, right, Groot?”

“I am Groot.”

“Damn right, we are!” Rocket laughed again and that just settled it.

Tony was fairly certain he was going to die and, surprisingly enough, he was okay with that as long as it wasn’t for nothing. Trying to save the whole planet, huh… he certainly wouldn’t call that nothing.

While most others were still talking strategy or simply just mentally preparing for the fight to come, bracing themselves, he finally talked to Steve. He couldn’t go as far as to talk to Barnes, as well, but it was something. He felt lighter, after – still not ready to forget, he never would be or should be, for that matter, but at least ready to forgive.

He talked to Rhodey, Bruce and Peter too, and gosh, the kid was still too young to be a superhero and fight this battle, yet Tony was grateful that all of them were here. They hit many bumps in the road, all of which seemed so insignificant all of a sudden, but these were his people. He couldn’t have imagined anyone else fighting by his side.

Well, one more person...

He left Serena for last because he realized something that day. Actually, he had known for a while because falling for her was slow and steady, really, like a soothing rainfall rather than a storm. But today, while they were fighting for their lives, he realized he had been an idiot to ignore it. He had been afraid of ruining something he hadn’t even started yet but that stopped now. Effective immediately.

“I know what you’re doing,” the witch greeted him when he stepped close to her. She looked divinely pissed at him, eyes fiery and skin flushed, and Tony couldn’t help but grin at the sight of her like that.

“Hm? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lied and she rolled her eyes.

“You’re saying your goodbyes and I won’t have that,” she stated fiercely. She was ready for this fight and he knew it from her stance alone. “Maybe half of these people is already preparing to die, but I have every intention to survive this and send that purple asshole’s decapitated body back to the wormhole it came fro---”

He kissed the rest of that sentence away. Serena tensed up at first and he was absolutely giddy with excitement over the fact that he managed to do something  _ she _ hadn’t expected for a change. To his satisfaction, she responded to the kiss in kind and melted into his arms incredibly fast after that.

It wasn’t a long kiss – he could have kissed her much longer given the opportunity – but it was deep and felt like liquid fire in his veins; everything he had been hoping for and more. It was simply well deserved.

Tony only broke away from her lips once he was sure she understood this wasn’t just a heat of the moment thing. He wanted this and so he kept her close afterwards, an arm around her waist, fingers of his other hand tangled in her hair, so close he was able to breathe her in fully. He hadn’t even known how bad he needed this, needed her, until just then. It hit him like a brick wall.

“I’m not gonna say goodbye to you. I think I just said hello.” If Tony survived this war, it would be for her. He had plans with her.

“Good.”


End file.
